We are changing the format around this month, to open the meeting up a little more to both more information and education, and also more participation in terms of pro-active learning and more participation in understanding and supporting the “how, what and why” of Permaculture North.

MEETING FORMAT:
We are planning on breaking the meeting into two distinct halves.

First half, we will split the meeting into 4 groups and each of these groups will rotate for 15 minutes or so around 4 different topics -
They are –
• A better understanding and appreciation of Soils with resident expert Deb Alderton
• Peter Pezzolesi will be running us through some of the core issues with seed saving.
• Craig Duckmanton will take up 2-3 Permaculture Principles and open up discussion about how we can build them into our every day lives
• 4th Topic is yet to be finlaised.

The second half will take on a small scale World Café format. World Café is a form of participatory thinking and strategic development and aims to build ideas from the ground up around a single question “that matters”. We will break into groups of 4-6 depending on numbers at the meeting, with an appointed “scribe” in each group. Then ideas and discussions open up for around 15minutes, with the scribe capturing these ideas. The groups then change to find new tables with new partners. The scribe then describes what happened with the previous groups thoughts, and the new participants build in the information from their previous table discussions, so that we get a rich transference and appreciation of an upwardly progressing ideas tank.

It should end up being a lot of fun; allow people to share and build and above all, leave the organization with a richness of input!!

I would like to see this type of format and approach to strategic development regularly built into our “way of being” as it allows all to support and create the future with their own ideas, rather than just waiting on a committee or hierarchy.

So the question I will be putting to the group for discussion at this first Café is all about building wider responsibility and participation and while PSN is a volunteer organization, but so much of what to do gets left to a hierarchical committee.

"What could we change to make the whole organization more participatory, responsible and connected and with recognition that every member is a volunteer and can contribute in some way, not just through a committee?”

As Edward DeBono would say, “Put on your blue sky hats and let’s get some creative ideas flowing!!”